Know Thyself

Some hardtalks with a cancer expert

AS: Welcome to Hpathy. We feel honored to have you with us. You treat some of the most difficult cases. How are you able to remain positive, optimistic and encourage your patients? Do homeopaths need to have a spiritual dimension in their work?

AUR: To work with Homeopathy is the most fascinating experience one can imagine. It reveals to you the extraordinary potentials in the human being, the power of the Vital Force …that supreme Curative energy. Hence, I always remain positive that I can do something to elevate his/her status of health. That doesn’t always mean a cure. I am not unaware of the Pathology, which quite often is irreversible. But Homeopathy can give him an edge over whatever the prevailing circumstances might be.

I have so many times taken a patient who is told that he has got only two more weeks to live (or die) and I have kept them going for 8 months or 9 months thereafter, not in agony and pain but giving an extended quality of time. These are the things that make me feel positive in difficult cases. I know the realities, I explain to the patient’s relatives and try and work the best under the circumstances.

As for Homeopaths having a spiritual Dimension….It’s of utmost necessity, and that I feel for any physician, homeopathic or otherwise.

AS: You are one of the world’s leading experts in treating cancer. How did you come to learn so much about that disease? Is “cure” a realistic expectation in some cancer cases?

AUR: I don’t know if I am an expert, but I have been battling with so many (thousands) of cases in the last 20 years, and that has at times given me an edge in curing those cases…. and quite often chastened me. To sum up, in stage 1 & 2 there is a very optimistic situation, and even in stage 3, there is more scope for optimism than I used to believe some 10 years back. On the whole I feel we can definitely make a useful contribution.

AS: You have said: “For the cure to be successful, the patient must have knowledge about his inner self and must attain an inner balance”. How, specifically, do you help the patient accomplish that? How much do you involve yourself in the patient’s life?

AUR: I try to give a long session whenever possible and get to know their lifestyle and give my suggestions. Sometimes it makes a big difference. There are also times when the person can’t make any shift, due to certain compelling circumstances. Life is not that simple, but we have to tirelessly keep trying.

AS: It is generally assumed that early diagnosis is a factor in successful treatment. What blood tests or other diagnostic means do you rely on, to detect early stages of cancer? Are there certain blood parameters that indicate a pre-cancerous state?

AUR: I rely on the same tests as the Oncologists do….certain things like the Prostate CA can reveal in a blood test ahead of the actual occurrence…PSA level in blood, a pap smear can reveal ahead of a cervical cancer. Sometimes a routine stomach wash can show CA of stomach. That is why a routine annual checkup is very useful, especially after age 40, with tests like endoscopy of upper G.I. and colonoscopy.

AS: The newer schools of thought in homeopathy put even more emphasis on the mentals. One perspective suggests that a remedy which deeply addresses the patient’s life conflict will be sufficient to deal with the tumor. Could you comment on this?

AUR: I believe what you say is true and that is what I do in all cases, except in cancer. In cancer the pathology progresses fast and spreads to other areas (metastasis) and hence we are compelled to use a technique that can address the pathology immediately. That is the reason for the organ related remedy.

AS: When diagnosed with a life threatening illness, even homeopathic enthusiasts often rush to the conventional ‘specialist’. Therefore, fresh cases of cancer often don’t turn up at a homeopath’s door. Most cases that we get are terminal, where the conventional doctor has given up. Out of the total cancer cases that you see each year, what percentage is of ‘fresh’ cases?

AUR: You are right. That is the reality and that is why, out of the 12,000 and odd cases that I have seen (kept count of but could be more ), over 9000 were in stage 4. However, that doesn’t mean you can do nothing. It’s not that every case you take up must be cured. What is most rewarding is that you give them extended quality time.

I have had cases which were discharged from hospital to go home and die in two weeks. With treatment they have lived for nine months in reasonable comfort and not in constant agony. The relatives are often so grateful and tell me that the last months under homeopathy were the best time the patient had since the diagnosis of cancer. I feel that is a great service to the sufferer rendered through homeopathy.

AS: What is it that brings a ‘fresh’ case to you instead of to a conventional practitioner?

AUR: Word of mouth through a relative or friend who has gone through the conventional route and tells them of his bad experience. That makes a fresh case to research on alternative routes and can bring the patient to your door. And let me tell you, it is not so infrequent!

AS: Patients often ask, “‘can you cure me?” If you say “no”, you don’t get to treat treat them. If you say “yes”, you can soon land in a legal soup. How do you deal with the patient’s questions and expectations? How do you give a prognosis to such cases?

AUR: I tell them that in the realm of medicine, there are no guarantees. Even it’s a common cold or a rash, there is no 100% assurance. Actually the doctor is supposed to do well if he gets an 80% cure. That being the case, I can only try my best.

AS: If a seemingly “curable” and “young” case does not respond to your treatment and passes away quickly, the relatives can threaten with legal action. Has this ever happened to you?

AUR: No, thank God. But I get a letter of release signed by the patient. That is an additional suggestion and is in no way obstructing the conventional method and all the possibilities have been explained.

AS: You often fly to other countries to see cancer cases. In most countries homeopaths cannot legally ‘treat’ a cancer case. How do you deal with the dilemma?

AUR: I go as a consultant with the consent of the attending oncologist, that he has tried all the possibilities and has no objection to my treating the patient. Hence, it’s on an individual basis and I am not going there to set up a practice.

AS: Is there a place for radiation, chemotherapy or other allopathic methods? Do they interfere with homeopathic treatment?

AUR: They do interfere with homeopathic action, and hence my first choice is not to have them at all, except for surgery which I strongly recommend.

But the reality is that we have to work with the patient undergoing chemo or radiation, and that is where my “plussing method” is of great help. In the face of chemo I am able to make our remedies work!!!

AS: What are some of the problems and cautions in using homeopathy where there is tissue damage, for instance, in Parkinson’s disease.

AUR: This is where understanding the pathology is helpful and you are able to give the prognosis as to what extent one can expect results even after vital stimulation.

AS: In the U.S., naturopaths treat cancer through detoxification, using special diets, herbs, colon cleansing etc. Do you incorporate any of these in your work or refer patients for such treatment?

AUR: I definitely don’t incorporate…..nor do I refer patients. But when my patients are already on these treatments or ask me if they can do it, I have no objection, since they feel it can do good,

AS: Sometimes the constitutional remedy is difficult to find. In a cancer case, is it absolutely necessary for cure?

AUR: Though it may not be necessary to get started initially, eventually it is very important. During the process of several months of treatment and several sittings, the constitutional remedy most definitely emerges.

AS: When choosing an organopathic remedy, do symptoms of the remedy have to match the patient, or is location of the tumor sufficient indication?

AUR: Location ( origin) and symptoms are both important.

AS: In cancer cases, how long does treatment continue after the tumor is gone?

AUR: At least for a year and some times more, but not so aggressively, no plussing . Sometimes a review once in 3 months may be needed for a 2 to 3 year period thereafter…sometimes just a year…it depends.

AS: Is there ever a problem of proving the remedy, when repeating it four or more times in a day?

AUR: That is the advantage with plussing the dose. You don’t come across proving if administered by the plussing method especially in a cancer patient. What it would be to do plussing in a “normal” individual, I have never tried.

AS: How do you distinguish side effects caused by the tumor from meaningful symptoms?

AUR: From the location and the relevance of tumor-pressure.

AS: You and Catherine Coulter collaborated on the book “‘A Homeopathic Approach To Cancer” (reviewed in this issue). What kind of feedback have you gotten from readers of that book?

AUR: Catherine Coulter was my scribe and she gave me suggestions as to the format of the book, layout of chapters, English language etc. , where as all the thoughts, concepts, cases, management and philosophies are entirely mine. The feedback has been extremely rewarding and hundreds of people have said that the plussing dose method has been a ” savior”. I have saved dozens of letters complimenting me, and it is a huge source of inspiration and satisfaction for my professional career

AS: Death is inevitable in some cases. How do you deal with the death of a patient?

AUR: That is a reality that is glaring in our face, especially in a stage 4 case. It’s just a question of giving them “an extended quality time”, and you endeavor to do your best to accomplish that. To give them longer and make them much more comfortable. If you work , accepting that as a reality, death does not disturb your balance.

AS: Thank you Dr. Ramakrishan, for spending this time with us. Your knowledge and spirit inform us, and give hope to many.

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Dr. Ramakrishnan M.B.B.S., MF Hom, PhD, is an internationally known medical doctor from India. He travels the world lecturing on homeopathy and treating difficult cases. Some areas of his expertise are Cardiac Disease, Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Epilepsy, Arthritis and Diabetes. He is also the homeopathic physician to the president of India

Dr. Ramakrishnan has been presenting papers at International Congresses since 1981. Along with Catherine R. Coulter, he is the co-author of A Homeopathic Approach to Cancer. (See a review of the book in this issue of the Homeopathy 4 Everyone)